Feature Requests

[dlj]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

The 5-minute predictor is not an alarm window, but an on-screen graphic indicator. That gives my indicator about 1/2 MI out, and freighters about 3 MI out. Making that indicator longer would be exceptionally cluttered and might not provide much value.
These indicators are much more useful in close in situations.
Again, if I am under sail in a channel and see the next mark two arrow lengths away, I visually and instantly know that in 10 minutes I have to make sail changes.
Or if I'm coming up the bay, and a freighter is overtaking me, if his 5-minute arrow is a couple of hundred yards off my starboard side, I know that if I run a course parallel with his or slightly left of his that the passing will be a smooth one. And I can update that interpretation every 30 seconds or a minute by just glancing at the plotter.
Or when a fishing boat going 12 or 15 knots has my 5 minute arrow in the middle of his 5-minute line, it is quite obvious that he will be passing well ahead of me.
None of this of course is a substitute for a high level of watch standing. But all of it provides instant update, confirmation, and feedback to factor into the situational awareness.

Just had an "ah ha!" moment... your software puts a 5 minute indicator on all boats detected via AIS or RADAR. I can see how in close quarters that could be very useful! I had understood that only your boat had both the green and red lines you mentioned. I wasn't seeing a lot of utility in that....

Still way to close doing passages for me. With minimal traffic it would not help me much. I typically prefer to miss freighters, fishing ships, etc. by several miles in open ocean...

dj

[J46Racer]

How hard it is to learn how to create dashboard applications.

Also I am trying to use the dashboard as a virtual MFD, and would like to be able to have it run in its own always on top window.

Any hints to speed up my journey?

Cheers!
R.S.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by J46Racer

How hard it is to learn how to create dashboard applications.

Also I am trying to use the dashboard as a virtual MFD, and would like to be able to have it run in its own always on top window.

Any hints to speed up my journey?

Cheers!
R.S.

What OS are you running ?


The Dashboard does stay on top of the main application. It is part of O so minimising O will minimise the Dashboard also. If you are running Windows you could open any other applications in a Virtual Desktop and set the time out that would revert back to the primary desktop running O and Dashboard.



There are Android/Apple apps that would serve as virtual MFD's. NKE-Display (NKE) and Oceancross (Quark) are not proprietary so will work with anybodies WiFi stream.

[J46Racer]

Thanks for the quick reply! Understood.

My OS is Linux Ubuntu

[datswite]

I haven't had luck finding this AIS feature in the app, so, maybe it doesn't yet exist....

Bearing at Closest Point of Approach (BCPA): The direction to a target vessel as it passes at its closest point of approach.

I use this feature all of the time in iNavx (especially on passage, when I'm exhausted - or, anytime where the brain isn't firing on all cylinders). In a crossing situation that will be a close call, this feature is a huge help. You can easily and quickly determine if another vessel will pass in front of, or behind, you. Saves many radio calls. CPA is good. But, CPA combined with BCPA is outstanding - a huge safety feature.

[Hakan]

I think our CPA view is rather clear. Here it's clear we'll pass behind?

[datswite]

Originally Posted by Hakan

I think our CPA view is rather clear. Here it's clear we'll pass behind?

I don't know the scale of your view. It looks like close quarters. It's also a very simple example. Having crossed quite a few busy shipping lanes - for example, in the Med around the Strait of Gibraltar and around Sicily, as dozens of ships are crossing your view all at the same time, things get messy really quickly. It's nice to glance at a number that clearly states where each ship will pass, without cluttering the screen with projected paths 20-30 miles long.

It's nice to have a feature available, even if it's not useful to every sailor. Sailors can use the features they like, and ignore what they don't. I happen to find it a very useful feature and would like to see it implemented. There are loads of features on OpenCPN that I don't use. But, I'm glad that they're there. If someone is looking for a super simple Nav app that does the minimum, I would recommend Navionics.

[datswite]

Originally Posted by Hakan

I think our CPA view is rather clear. Here it's clear we'll pass behind?

What is the yellow/red dashed line? I've not seen that before.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by datswite

What is the yellow/red dashed line? I've not seen that before.

That's the range line and points predictions for CPA. The points are yours and the target's position when closest. More in the manual here.

To not get to many irrelevant warnings adjust your CPA settings. I use to have range 1.0 Nm in 15 to 30 minutes. 1 Nm to satisfy nervous big ships and 20 minutes to let me have time to react. All set in Options->Ships->AIS targets.
And in crowed area I don't use the Alarm only these visual warnings.

[datswite]

Originally Posted by Hakan

That's the range line and points predictions for CPA. The points are yours and the target's position when closest. More in the manual here.

To not get to many irrelevant warnings adjust your CPA settings. I use to have range 1.0 Nm in 15 to 30 minutes. 1 Nm to satisfy nervous big ships and 20 minutes to let me have time to react. All set in Options->Ships->AIS targets.
And in crowed area I don't use the Alarm only these visual warnings.

I think the pop-up window would be a great place to include the BCPA. It's additional information and easily seen without having to wade through a context menu and turn on an additional feature. I like the yellow line that you highlighted - thanks for showing me how to use it, but I don't agree that it negates the rationale for my suggestion. As a navigator and sailor, I have NEVER wished for less information.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Hakan

That's the range line and points predictions for CPA. The points are yours and the target's position when closest. More in the manual here.

To not get to many irrelevant warnings adjust your CPA settings. I use to have range 1.0 Nm in 15 to 30 minutes. 1 Nm to satisfy nervous big ships and 20 minutes to let me have time to react. All set in Options->Ships->AIS targets.
And in crowed area I don't use the Alarm only these visual warnings.

I'm not an active OpenCPN user, at least not yet. But the big boys (probably driven by lawyers) have an annoying alarm feature. You can only set one CPA alarm. My problem is that I want one alarm (with lots of time and distance) for commercial traffic, and another alarm (with minimal time and distance) for pleasure boats (or even turn the damn things off!). Does OpenCPN allow some granularity for alarms? Size, or speed, or Class A/B? Set one for Class A, one for Class B, or ones for vessels over/under 30M, or over/under 15 knots?


The problem as a user is if I set a decent alarm for freighters, say a CPA under 1/2 mile in less than 20 minutes, the alarm will never stop because of pleasure boats. If I set a decent alarm for pleasure boats (say a CPA under 100 yards in less than 5 minutes), the freighters will be honking before the alarms go off. A conundrum!

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Does OpenCPN allow some granularity for alarms? Size, or speed, or Class A/B? Set one for Class A, one for Class B, or ones for vessels over/under 30M, or over/under 15 knots?!

No.


Some say's OCPN is to powerful and plenty of settings. The latter can be true since it's so powerful. I think your discussed feature would make it even more complicated and not easy to understand for all or implemented in a common acceptable way..

In such a crowded area you may refer to I use to select these targets in question and activate the CPA for only these instead of a common warning. (Select: right click and "Show target CPA")
If you often have one or two fellows around you can exclude them from all CPA in "Options->Ships->MMSI properties"

[sailingharry]

Thanks. I sail in Annapolis, MD, where there are a gazillion boats, and since all the offshore races require AIS installed, they all are broadcasting. A few times a day, a big monster creeps up all sneaky (how do they do that?) and it can be scary. It sure would be nice to have them announce themselves. Name brands don't do it, but I hoped that O would. I have alarms set close and short (ie, 100 yards in 2 minutes), as it's too annoying ohterwise, and as a result I don't get the huge potential value of AIS alarms.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Thanks. I sail in Annapolis, MD, where there are a gazillion boats, and since all the offshore races require AIS installed, they all are broadcasting. A few times a day, a big monster creeps up all sneaky (how do they do that?) and it can be scary. It sure would be nice to have them announce themselves. Name brands don't do it, but I hoped that O would. I have alarms set close and short (ie, 100 yards in 2 minutes), as it's too annoying ohterwise, and as a result I don't get the huge potential value of AIS alarms.

Are you looking to turn of CPA alarms for sailboats but keep them for the big ships? I think you would be depriving yourself of a safety feature, but perhaps a hack is to set "Suppress anchored/moored targets" with a speed of 6 or 7 kts.

I don't at all recommend that, but that should stop all alarms except for the larger vessels that go faster than that.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by wholybee

Are you looking to turn of CPA alarms for sailboats but keep them for the big ships? I think you would be depriving yourself of a safety feature, but perhaps a hack is to set "Suppress anchored/moored targets" with a speed of 6 or 7 kts.

I don't at all recommend that, but that should stop all alarms except for the larger vessels that go faster than that.

That would be a decent, but less than ideal, choice.
I've suppressed boats under 1kt (anchored boats often broadcast a speed). Your idea has some merit, but tugs (some of the worst to avoid!) often do under sailboat speed.

Ideally, I'd have:
* Boats over 30M alarm for a CPA under 1NM in under 30 minutes. Offshore, set it for under 60 minutes (basically, as soon as identified). This gives me time to identify and work with the relatively few "large" boats (yes, 30M gives megayachts, that's OK).
* Boats under 30M alarm for a CPA under 100 Yards in under 5 minutes. Plenty of time to identify and avoid the myriad small boats without "alarm fatigue."
I would be fine (maybe even prefer) with using Class A vs Class B as the breakpoint, but I have a feeling many pleasure boats are springing for the enhanced feature set of Class A.

Note, my current chartplotter is an old Furuno, with this same shortcoming. It's a major feature that will be a selection factor in any upgrade. Assuming anyone makes it...LOL